


First day of school

by wavedancer



Category: Smallville
Genre: Gen, High School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-26
Updated: 2012-05-26
Packaged: 2017-11-06 01:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/413044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wavedancer/pseuds/wavedancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a short piece decribing Clark and Chloe's first meeting in high school from each character's POV. Written for Chlark 24/7, published on my livejournal in 2009.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First day of school

Fanfic written for Chlark 24/7 in 2009. First thing I've produced in quite some time, so happy I managed to do it!

***

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. (including the characters of Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan) are the property of their respective owners. This story is my property! I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. This story is purely for enjoyment and not for any commercial purposes.

***

**_“Out of the way, jerk”_  **

A red-jacketed shoulder shoves me – I’m pretty sure deliberately – from behind, and I automatically roll with it but end up spilling my pile of books all over the hallway floor. All along the lockers kids turn and whoop and clap. I can feel my ears burning with embarrassment. First day of school and my status as school dork is already cemented.  
  
My dad would be proud.

It’s really not my fault that I seem clumsy. I’ve grown so much over the past year that everything seems awkward. I can’t judge my strength properly anymore so I have to handle everything as if it’s made of glass. I don’t even touch anyone at all if I can help it. I don’t know what I’m gonna do if the seniors here don’t stop shoving me. They don’t realize I’m tougher than I look. I’d love to show them sometime - but my parents would find a way to kill me. It’s hard to blend in as well now I’ve grown so big and... gangly. I seem about a foot taller than anyone else in my class. I guess Mom was right - I really did have a big growth spurt this summer. I thought she was just moaning about the new clothes she had to get me. I hadn’t really noticed until I got to school. In fact, I realized when I was waiting for the school bus that I hadn’t stepped foot off the farm since I finished school last year. My dad kept me working pretty hard all summer, and Pete’s been away with his family.  
  
I feel like I don’t fit in more than ever.

I was pretty excited about getting off the farm and starting high school at last, but I’m beginning to realize that nothing’s really changed. Maybe it’s the argument I had with my dad this morning about still not being allowed to play sports. He thinks I can’t control myself, and that it’s too dangerous. Deep down I kind of agree with him, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. I’m beginning to think he’s been watching me more closely than I thought. Actually, maybe that’s why he’s kept me on the farm all summer?

Smallville seems smaller every year. I know I’m not the only person at school to feel like this, lots of kids dream of getting away. To Metropolis, to college. Somewhere there’s more than one coffee shop, and school isn’t the centre of everything. Somewhere with room to grow and where you can be yourself without everyone watching all the time.

Nothing’s really changed. Same old people, different school. At least I get to see Pete again. He’s kind of my only friend in Smallville. Oh my God, that’s pathetic. Not Pete – he’s great. But that I only have one real friend. And I can’t even tell him a fraction of what goes on in my life. Having only your Mom and Dad to talk to is just plain weird, even if it does make us really close.

While I’m picking my books up I feel a heavy hand on my shoulder. It’s Principal Kwan. I already know him.  
  
In Smallville everyone knows everyone after all.

***

_**“Clark Kent, meet Chloe Sullivan”** _   


_Oh my God._ Suddenly the attractions of Smallville have dramatically improved.

After my craptastic summer, where my Dad suddenly announces that we’re moving from Metropolis to the middle of nowhere, and we have to leave our apartment and lives and friends behind… OK, maybe I’m exaggerating about the friends. I don’t really make friends easily. I tend to bury myself in books, and it’s just a _tiny_ bit possible that I put people off with my intensity. But I _had_ a _life_ , and I was about to move to high school and I was going to get to work on the student paper, and now that’s all been wrecked. All because my Dad got a stupid job with a stupid crap factory. Yes, that’s really where he works.

The thing about Smallville though is that it’s just so…small. Well, duh, huh? But I’m definitely a city girl, and I’ve suddenly had my whole life boxed up and dumped with me in the middle of Norman Rockwellsville. To make things worse my Dad is being super-enthusiastic about the whole thing. I love my dad to pieces and we’re really close in that I can tell him and ask him anything – it’s kind of just the two of us you know? But he is a gigantic dork, and he’s a little bit… distracted sometimes. I swear, I think one day he might just forget about me entirely. It does mean that I get a lot of freedom though. He trusts me, I think. 

What was I saying? Right, I’d had an awful summer. And the first day of life at Smallville High wasn’t shaping up great either. My Dad had pretty much left me to my own devices, and the girls at school were looking at me in that horrible mean way when you don’t fit in. I heard a few of the pom-pom brigade laughing behind my back at my city clothes and my hair. Just because I don’t conform to their paper cut-out ideas of style. I don’t care about fitting in though. But the _very worst thing_ was that I asked the Principal about joining the staff of the school newspaper, to find that it had been _shut down_ due to 'lack of interest' from the student body! 

So yeah, you could say that I was not happy. _At all_. But then the Principal dumps me on another student to give me the rest of the teeny tour… and I reiterate - _Oh My God_. Cute much? And suddenly my day started to improve.  
  
His name was Clark, and he was really quiet and shy which you don’t expect in a cute guy. I don’t think Clark is naturally that quiet though somehow. It’s strange, and I don’t know why but he seems like he doesn’t want to stand out. He looks kind of longingly at the jocks and doesn’t try to join in with them, but you can tell he wants to. Eventually I managed to pry some information about Clark out of him, although boy was that difficult. He doesn’t like to give anything away. But I eventually found out that he lives on a real working farm! I demanded that he show me round later, which he has promised to do. Forward of me I know, but you have to be pushy to get the story. I am a journalist after all. 

Maybe it was Clark who kickstarted my journalistic instincts, but I decided then that I’m not going to spend my time in Smallville blending in, and wishing my life away. I can get Kwan to let me restart the student paper. I told Clark my plans, and I think I even badgered him into reluctantly helping me. I can tell that he’s meant for more than Smallville, he just needs a push. He got a hug for that, although he seemed a bit uncomfortable. He’s only just met me though, he’ll get used to it. We’ll make The Torch the best paper in town. In fact I’ll bet we can compete with The Ledger. Their headline I saw today wasn’t even spelt right. 

I think everything might work out after all.


End file.
